Photo of the Week: Cultivating Fine Cocoa in Honduras

April 19, 2013

A cocoa farmer inspects a seedling at the CAPROCAFIM cooperative’s nursery in western Honduras. With support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, TechnoServe developed a strategy to revitalize the Honduran cocoa industry. Our advisors identified native plant varieties that would appeal to the burgeoning fine cocoa market and trained farmers in grafting techniques to reproduce the genetic material in new trees.

The 60 members of the CAPROCAFIM cooperative planted more than 120 acres of fine cocoa in the Merendón mountain range and raised enough money to build the nursery. The TechnoServe program has supported the planting of more than 2,500 acres of high-quality, native trees to help ensure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the Honduran cocoa industry.